Body of missing snowmobiler recovered from Great Slave Lake

Mounties say a body that was spotted in Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories last week has been recovered, and has been confirmed to be one of three missing snowmobilers.

Police had already suspended the search for the trio over the weekend after the body was sighted from a helicopter in an area of open water, along with debris, on Friday.

They say in a news release that RCMP dispatched a crew on board a helicopter Monday morning and were able to land and retrieve the body, along with some of the debris.

The NWT Coroner Service has confirmed the identity of the deceased as Samuel Boucher, 65, of Lutsel’ke.

Boucher, along with 23-year-old Cammy Boucher and another man, left the Yellowknife area on a snowmobile Monday bound for Lutsel’ke on the eastern edge of the lake, but were reported overdue on Tuesday.

Police had previously not known the identity of the other man, but now say they believe it was Jake Gully, 28, of Fort Good Hope.

“The helicopter performed a surveillance patrol, for possible sighting of the remaining missing two persons. There were no sightings of the two persons, and no further debris noted,” the police news release on Tuesday stated.

RCMP had explained that the helicopter crew that spotted the body Friday wasn’t able to land on the ice at the time, so photos that were taken from the air were used to determine that it was in fact a deceased person.

The three travellers were believed to have departed Dettah at approximately 10:30 p.m. on May 13. They were aboard a 1990s era Black Bombardier Scandic two seater, towing two toboggans.

Police say they will continue to survey the area around Ethen Island for any sign of the remaining two missing persons, but that evidence leads them to believe they may have suffered the same fate as Samuel Boucher.